Politics: Onward from New Hampshire

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
I'd be in favor of either a rotation or random selection from the chief judges of the court of appeals to sit by designation in each instance of a recusal (at least for purposes of merits decisions--not cert.)

What, and let one of those whacks from the 9th in there? Uh huh. Are pigs flying yet?

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by bilmore
"In a campaign that has seen candidate Howard Dean infamously appeal to "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," many political scientists, historians and gender experts say that a good portion of the presidential image-making in 2004 will center on masculinity."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...sthemantheyare

So much for stalemate. Bush has a ranch, and a war. Kerry has . . what? . . . brie?

Bush has a war, Kerry has a war record. Kerry is also much taller than Bush -- although Bush is tall.

Both are blessed with good hair, but I suspect that Kerry has much larger feet, if you know what I mean. That should be good for a few electoral votes.

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Then just say that. No need to get nasty - it makes you look desparate.

Darn. I thought that I had said it. I was just trying to be witty, and cuttingly saracastic, using allusion and shorthand in the best tradition of Board wits like Hank Chinaski, Atticus Grinch, and Gattigap. I guess its just not my thing, and I should stick with a boring, methodical, point-by-point approach. I am Al Gore, to Hank's George Bush. {But I'll use Clinton to stump for me.]

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by bilmore
He said contradictory things earlier, and then changed stances.

On those points? When? I must have missed them.

So, he had said that the Madrid bombings were Bush's fault and that the Spaniards were right to withdraw? I'd be shocked.

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/...199323371.html

Oh, Iraq clearly is part of the war on terror now, club.

I think the better question, and the one that most critics raise, is whether Iraq/invading Iraq was necessarily part of the War on Terror at the time we invaded, or before.

S_A_M

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
Strongly disagree with most everything.

Pity. And here I thought we were getting close.

If someone in the Administration would say ....

[i]Originally posted by bilmore
Yes, when we went to war we thought that the threat was more immediate than it has proven to be. We still think it was a good decision because we got that bastard dictator out.

... then it would go a long way (hell, even with me). It reflects candor, and while I may or may not buy the overall argument, I respect much more this approach.* The Administration's consistent refusal to blurt these words -- instead insisting that they "never said that" -- leads to embarrassing performances like Rumsfeld's in Face the Nation, annoys the hell out of many people, and (I think) reflects some kind of stubborn determination to appear "resolute in the President's decisionmaking" even when it makes the Administration look foolish.

(And if Powell has said something like this, without getting subsequently bitchslapped into silence by the Administration, kudos to him. Do you remember where this was?)

(A "redheaded stepchild riding a rented mule"?)

Hey, S_A_M starts his drinking early in the day. Let's cut him some slack.

Gattigap


* This, by the way, was essentially the point I was trying to make weeks ago in my discussion with you, until I made the unfortunate mistake of including the word -- well, you know the word -- in my post. At that point, I think everything went red for you, and the onset of Tourette's commenced.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Both are blessed with good hair, but I suspect that Kerry has much larger feet, if you know what I mean. That should be good for a few electoral votes.

"Big feet" are always trumped by pretty hair. Ain't no southron womenfolk in trailers gonna call Kerry "manly".

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
My sense, when I read that, was that it kind of ties in to his fairly arrogant approach to life, in that he fails to see any compelling legal reason for recusal, and, while he might entertain the idea in a not-so-close case just to appease the idiots who are wrong about the law, (his thoughts, remember), he's not going to give in to stupidity in a close case.

I think he's right on the legal reasons, and on his analysis of history, but, damn, what a dumb trip to go on. Perception, even when it's wrong, counts, and he just caused problems for no good reason.

With this I agree.

Heard radio reports today that in his justification, Scalia pointed out (among other things) that this was a larger group trip, he never spent time in a duck blind with Cheney, etc etc. It helped move my perception of the matter from (a) incredibly arrogant and likely not supportable, to (b) technically supportable but still arrogant and blind to the importance of perception. The attitude does fit in well with Scalia's dissents spent shouting at the rain, though.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
"In a campaign that has seen candidate Howard Dean infamously appeal to "guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," many political scientists, historians and gender experts say that a good portion of the presidential image-making in 2004 will center on masculinity."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...sthemantheyare

So much for stalemate. Bush has a ranch, and a war. Kerry has . . what? . . . brie?

Fair point -- but at the end of the day, remember this is a race between Yale, Class of '66 and Yale, Class of '68. No matter how you choose to dress these two, you can take the boy out of Yale ....

For every episode of Bush clearing brush, Kerry will hop on a Harley, or run clips of Bush in his nifty flight suit on the aircraft carrier. And so on.

(I do like the references in the story to Kerry as the International Man of Mystery, though. That's clever.)

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Gattigap
If someone in the Administration would say ....

... then it would go a long way (hell, even with me). It reflects candor, and while I may or may not buy the overall argument, I respect much more this approach.

Hmm. Maybe I'll look into some sort of speechwriting gig. So common sense is at a premium?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
alright, this post probably crossed the line and I'm likely outed now, so I'll go ahead and fess up...

Hank = ncs sock puppet. I'll retire it now.

Does this mean I'm supposed to start arguing with my socks?

Oh, wait...

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Not Me
Just curious.

A few do.

I've tried to meet a couple of folks here, and based on the posts made here, had high hopes of meeting fabulously attractive people with sparkling personalities.

Then I met Sidd, and put the brakes on that little exercise.


(Hat trick!)(ETA: No hat trick. Drat!)

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
The fact that Bush was a cheerleader makes me even more wary of the guy. Wasn't he captain of the stickball team or something too?

A cheerleader LEADS the crowd in what they should be doing. Contrast to an adlib artists who get instruction from the crowd of what it would like to see.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Ally Says Bush Lied

Well, we used to like Poland, but now, I have to say, Poland Sucks!

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Gattigap
A few do.

I've tried to meet a couple of folks here, and based on the posts made here, had high hopes of meeting fabulously attractive people with sparkling personalities.

Then I met Sidd, and put the brakes on that little exercise.


(Hat trick!)(ETA: No hat trick. Drat!)

Where I come from, we don't call it a hat trick, we call it a "Penske!"